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Hanks praises Samuels’ plate discipline in first at-bat of season

Joey Samuels had his first collegiate at-bat Sunday in the Colorado Mesa baseball team’s series finale against CSU-Pueblo.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound redshirt freshman drew a walk in the eighth inning and scored a run in Mesa’s 15-1 victory.

“I’m glad to get him an at-bat,” CMU coach Chris Hanks said. “He goes in, he had a nice approach at the plate. He drew a walk. He didn’t go in there swinging at bad pitches. He showed composure. That’s great to show composure in that situation.

“His approach at the plate made him look like a veteran.”

Samuels, who redshirted last season, is on a partial scholarship, Hanks said.

“He comes to practice and practices the same way every day. He didn’t mope and pout when we told him he’d shag balls for the second year and that (role) stinks,” Hanks said. “We felt like he earned the right to put on the uniform.”

The Pueblo series was the first time Samuels was in uniform this season. He was assigned the last remaining jersey, No. 55.

“Joey is just a great kid,” Hanks said. “He’s been shagging balls (at home games). He comes to practice every day ready to go. A week ago I told him, ‘you’re going to suit up the rest of the year.’

“The thing is, there’s a chance Joey is our best defensive third baseman, but he’s young. We’ve got some seniors, we’ve got a lot of guys.”

HIT STREAK

Garrett Carpenter extended his hit streak to 19 games last weekend.

The junior center fielder was 8 for 15 (.533) with two doubles and three RBI in the series against CSU-Pueblo. He came up with a single in his final at-bat in the sixth inning of the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader to push his hit streak to 17 games.

Carpenter is hitting .457 this season. He has at least one hit in 23 of the 28 games he’s played and at least one hit in all but two starts.

Joe Dirnberger holds the Mesa hit streak record with 31, set over the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

PITCHING RECORD

Nolan Snell moved up to fifth all-time in school history in innings pitched last Friday night with 221 2/3 innings.

Snell broke the career strikeouts record earlier this season at Colorado School of Mines. He has 258 and counting.

BASE THIEF

Senior infielder Braden Box is closing in on the Mesa stolen bases record.

He stole his 64th career base last weekend. He is tied for second in Mesa history with Randall Holliness (1990-93).

Justin Little (2006-09) holds the school record with 66.

Up Next

The Mavericks (26-6, 20-2 RMAC), who slipped down one spot to No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II coaches poll this week, play a four-game RMAC series this weekend at Metro State University in Denver.